The voting is always subjective, so you’re consistent to your own rules, and that’s good!:3
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I give it a 4. The book itself probably sucks. Bad writing, plot holes, etc. Fortunately for me, I found it to be pretty hard, so I didn’t have to worry about enjoying the story. I only had to worry about trying to understand the text. So maybe the story is bad… but it didn’t bother me. One thing I liked about the book is that it was pretty dictionary friendly. Not a lot of skipping particles, slurring words together, using slang etc. All throughout the book, I could pretty much take whatever was written (as it was written), enter it into the dictionary and find something useful. All in all it was a challenging but enjoyable read.
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Can’t comment on the book itself (I’m “still reading”), but yeah, the 1983 movie based on it is… clunky. Honestly enjoyed the 2006 anime version a lot better.
That’s understandable. I’d probably give it a 3 or 4 from a “learning” perspective, but my vote was based on the plot, characters, and my enjoyment of the book itself.
I was reading some reviews on Goodreads from people who’d read the English translation. Many of the negative reviews said things like “Maybe it’s just the translation, but [insert critique here]”. And each time I was thinking “nope, probably not the translation”. 
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I have the English translation, and I’m pretty sure I read it (I remember how icky the surface they’ve used on cover feels when I hold it), but… I have absolutely no memory of the story.
I read an English translation of the first several pages around when we started and the writing style is as bland as humanly possible, though. A textbook example of why a translator for novels needs to be a a writer first and a translator second. I wouldn’t read it at all.
The Japanese version is pleasant enough to read, on the other hand, criticisms of the plot aside.
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I felt like it got more underwhelming the further along we went, but to be fair, I found the first few chapters genuinely quite intriguing, which is even more impressive given that I’d seen the anime. I agree with @tessberg that it was a nice read for a foreign learner too.
It sort of failed to deliver anything convincing on either the sci-fi or the romance front, so just fell flat overall, and it had a terrible fondness for exposition dumps. I thought the picture it painted of a potential future was quite intriguing though.
@Belthazar I haven’t seen the earlier one, but I preferred the 2006 anime to the book, so I’m not surprised. The time travel still felt a little wonky, but there’s a plot beyond just “oh look, I can time travel! How surprising!”
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But that’s part of the problem I had with it. If it was “just fine” the whole time I would have been like “okay, that’s about what I expected”. But the first few chapters (plus having seen the movie) made me want more, so in the end I was let down.
I agree that the future it explained was kind of interesting though.
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Ah, that’s fair. We read those chapters such a long while ago that I felt I’d sort of forgotten them and wasn’t giving credit where it was due, but it’s true that it basically made it quite a big let-down
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One of these days I’ll read a Japanese book in a few weeks instead of a few months. I wonder how much that would impact my enjoyment.
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I can’t quite imagine that yet 
but it would probably be more gripping…
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I’d basically have to drop all other books in order to do it. And even then…
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I don’t think this book would feel any better if read faster. It was fun talking with people though.
On the other hand, I have recently read 君の膵臓をたべたい and there are parts where you just can’t stop (and I’m glad I can read fast enough to not have to stop).
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Tbh I kind of love ranting about books with other people
I always worry I’m gonna accidentally give people the finger when I use that emote
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Picked up the Kadokawa version at Bookoff for 100 yennies.
Gonna try to finish it over the next couple of weeks. Not going for full comprehension, just reading practice and if I get the main plot I’ll be happy. So far on page 40.
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This. It wasn’t so bad that the ending was meh because we got to complain about every plot inconsistency. And plain bad teachers.
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I don’t know if I’d be able to endure reading a book like that at a slow pace. Maybe when I can read faster…
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Maybe it will spur you forward 
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I also do that in real life, but people around me don’t usually read the same books… It’s indeed nice to read as a group 
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Well, it wasn’t in my last haul, so it’s a moot point I guess. Maybe I’ll buy it next time, after I’ve hopefully read some of the books I already own. I’m hoping to read 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 with the intermediate book club after キノの旅 if it’s lucky enough to win. And maybe I’ll read one of the other books I bought already on my own.
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